Frustration

[Old Warrior]

Last night I felt the pangs of impatience. I so much wanted to do better and things were so much like Tuesday. My Bogu still felt burdensome, like I could hardly move. By the time I tied my the himo I seemed tired and my glasses were fogged.

Tell me, “eventually you won’t notice the gear”. Right now its like someone tied cement blocks to my feet and I’m waiting to be dumped in a harbor. As they would say in “The Sopronos” - I swear I didn’t do nuttin to no one to deserve to get whacked.

[Shoki]

Ok, “eventually you won’t notice the gear” :D . You will get used to it, cold comfort I know, but there it is. I find like you that there are days I feel like I’m strapping on cement blocks. Other days, the intensity of the practice has me so focused I don’t notice it at all. I don’t know how long you have been wearing bogu but the delights of the summer with the temp at 95 and the humidity pushing 100% are the times I dread the most. This to you learn to endure. At those times sensei likes to point out that now you are truly experiencing Japanese conditions for kendo.

[Old Warrior]

I have it all of 3 weeks and I have been going to practice 3 days a week for about 4 months - so I am a rank beginner.

[nodachi]

There will always be days when you are frustrated with your lack of progress (or at least it happens to me).

I get by it by looking at what I did at the end of each practice. Always I can say, "well, I did this better" or if nothing got better, "well, I learned this new technique, or this new little adjustment to correct an old mistake". Just keep checking that you are gaining something new, or correcting something, or are truly improving at the end of practice. If you can find even just one little thing that is new or better, you are heading in the right direction. If you can't, use your angst to tell your self to train harder, be it physically in practice, or mentally running things through your head.

Baby steps... what else could be the reason for all these masters of martial arts being old and gray...

Rome wasn't built in a day... if it was... we would hire their contractors... "Quote the Big Dig billboards" Yay Boston!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by nodachi
If you can find even just one little thing that is new or better, you are heading in the right direction. If you can't, use your angst to tell your self to train harder, be it physically in practice, or mentally running things through your head.
For beginners this is (mostly) true. There's lots to learn so you're progressing a lot. But it's a pretty high standard to meet. Sometimes you just get stuck. In fact, my instructor claims that getting stuck is a sign that you are learning. Especially as you go on in your kendo career, you will find long periods where it seems that there is no improvement. Then, breakthrough. There is some internalisation process that goes on. This can happen even without practice sometimes. You see someone practice hard, hard, hard for a long time - nothing seems to happen. Then they take a break due to injury or life circumstance and come back a month later better than they were before. I don't know exactly why - there's some internal processing in the mind-body collaboration that goes on while you're not looking.

[Steve]

I myself have experienced that phenomenom! This summer i had to take a month off to recover from some surgery. the mosti could do was some very slow suburi (about 1 of mine for everyone else's 10) and basic sliding footwork. And i cold only manage to do those for about 15-20 minutes before i had to stop.

When the month was up, and i had the ok to "return" to practice and do some geiko, i and my fellow classmates were shocked! iwas MUCH faster and accurate than i was before. It was a neat feeling.

Old Warrior: Make sure your bogu is broken in properly, especially the men. That will makea 100% difference. Even if you think its broken in, keep on working it in further. Soon almost like magic, your bogu will feel like a second skin....so to speak.

[Raígma]

Has anyone expierienced strong headache after beginning to wear a bougu?
Another kendoka told me once and I was wondering if that´ll happen to me, too. I´m getting my bougu in about 3 weeks and I ordered a men padding to protect my precious head.
I know I´m in Kendo and I´m supposed to suffer. But being that young I have to look a bit for that I stay healthy.
So any experiences?

[nodachi]

You may not have it tied right so that it is not sitting on your head properly. Last week I got a headache too, I am new to bogu too, and I think it was not sitting quite right on my head.

[Ares2907]

Yep could be the men himo are too tight, improperly positioned, or it could be the way you tie your tenugui. If you use the 'two folds across the face' type technique, there can often be a couple of hard bunched up bits of cotton that can press into your temples or similar area. You may not notice them right away, but after a few minutes in Bogu as blood flow starts to get cut off, it can really be quite painful (also painful if someone lands a yoko men right on one) - so check that your tenugui is smoothed out before you put your men on.
hth.

[Steve]

Same here...and its usually due to my tenegui being "bunched" as i tie it in a similar way to the Ares' "two-fold" method.

Also, how do you tie your men himo? I used to tie mine using the method that brings the himo across the tsuki. (i think its called the Kansai method). While it does hold your men more securely, i found it put a lot of pressure on mu jaw and i would get headaches from it occasionally. So, i switched back to the other method.

[Raígma]

"I´m getting my bougu in about 3 weeks.."
Well, I was just told by another one who had headache till he threw up.
Thanks to you. I´ll see that my Men will sit correctly.
By the way. I downloaded that "equipment" PDF explaining how everything is tied.
There are three methods to fold the Te Nugui but only the "beginner method" works for me.
There you fold it in front of you and it´s more like a cap in the end.
If you try a bit it fits very good but it´s still a bit awkwar to fold it in front of you sitting there.
The other methods don´t seem to be complicated, I tried them. The only problem I have is my long hair. I can´t get the Te Nugui ends under the part which is already wrapped around my head. My hair prevents it from holding there.
Any suggestions?

[nodachi]

Shave it all? :)

Pony tail it, that is what all the women in my Kendo club do.

[nodachi]

Sorry, let me rephrase that, that is what all the PEOPLE in my Kendo club do. Sorry, all the men in my club have short hair.

[Raígma]

Err... no...
It´s too short for a real ponytail and too long for short hair.
I think I´ll just keep trying.

[Antonin]

Ah, I had this problem as well. You're in the kendo gery zone, I'm afraid.
The only solution I've found: haircut..
A.

[Paburo]

solution is: topknot
or: headband.

[Chusan]

Those periods of being tired with all that Kendo are usual. One gets acquainted to it. My longest ´dark period` was about three years long (!) and I just went through it. Not hesitating, just going to the dojo and doing Kendo is the only helpful thing.

[Raígma]

No it´s okay now...
The long hair is just in the front and it fits under the Tenugui.
My sensei showed me the fault I made while tying it.

[Kendoboy]

When I wanted to get used to wearing the bogu, I just wore it around the house all day. It is transformed into a "second skin" much faster if you are doing everyday household chores and can forget that it is there. This might work for you, since kendo probably still feels a little unnatural.